Deception
by Revia
Summary: [Chris/Borus] Chris disguises herself in order to become a normal Zexen citizen for a short period of time, but two people know: and one will only be satisfied if the Captain of the Zexen knights goes permenantly missing.
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: You actually think I own Suikoden? o.0 Nope. Not me. So please don't sue... ^_^  
  
A/N: Well, this fic takes place approximately two years after Suikoden III. The ideas have been bumping around in my brain for awhile now, and I've finally figured out what the story is going to be about... hurrah! ^_^ I think the entire fic, when completed, is going to be around 10 chapters long... significantly longer than anything I've tackled so far on fanfiction.net. Yay for me!  
  
Chris has the True Water Rune, Hugo Fire, and Geddoe Lightning (just important info that you may want to know ~_^). Oh, and thoughts are in single-quotes (ack, I can't remember what they're called!). Anything else I wanted to say? *thinks* Errr... I don't think so.  
  
* * * *  
  
I am the Silver Maiden, the White Hero, the Lady Chris, the White Maiden... heck, I am even the she-devil. But I am only Chris Lightfellow. And most people don't seem to see that.  
  
I have until the end of time to be a knight... I want to know more, to -be- more than an aimless champion, a needlessly celebrated hero. How can I hope to protect them if I don't know them? How can I accept their praise when they don't know me, when they hear what the council wants them to hear, and little else? Their view of me is a construction, and they play up to it as soon as I am around. They celebrate and cheer, but why? I want to know their minds, to see the real world, the real people, not the Vinay del Zexay the council has manipulated and constructed. My work and my life is to serve the council, but my heart needs the truth.  
  
It has been two years since the end of the war, and everything is... quiet. The peace treaties were successfully and uneventfully signed. The knights' duties now consist of guarding against thieves, and safeguarding the Zexan highways (expecially those leading into Vinay Del Zexay), so as to boost trade. Merchants are coming from farther afield now that they don't need to fear the monsters and beasts when they take our roads.  
  
The council has (finally, in Borus' opinion) decided, as a reward for our "courage and skill" in the war, that the six Zexen knights are to be given time off. A month, to be exact. And I am going to use my time well.  
  
*  
  
She had been waiting for this opportunity. When she wouldn't have to worry about being bogged down by responsibility and fame, and would have enough concentration and time to succeed in her 'plan.' When she could have time to herself. To BE someone else.  
  
The idea had come to her nearly two months ago, seemingly out of the blue. Chris knew well that her True Water Rune held the power of healing and restoration, but she had never considered exploring, venturing beyond the obvious spells it cast. Once she had thought it through, however, her 'idea' seemed to be the perfect solution. She would disguise herself and live at one Vinay del Zexay's many inns for her month-long break, living as a citizen instead of as an icon. Which was just what she needed. To be a plain woman for a short time, not to be recognised everywhere she set foot, to understand the people, to see what they saw. To calm her fears of drowning in publicity, fame, wealth and responsibility.  
  
And she finally figured out what would help her achieve this: the True Water Rune.  
  
That night, sitting alone in her room, she decided to start small; with a lock of her silver hair. She had freed her hair it from it's usual braid, and had haphazardly brushed it out, letting it fall whichever way it wished. Selecting one small section, Chris closed her eyes in concentration. She sat cross-legged on her bed, focusing all of her energy on the lock of hair, trying to invert the power of the rune. To distort instead of restore.  
  
She found that she could -feel- the shape, texture and colour of the hair in her mind, as if it were there instead of clenched in her right hand. She willed it to do something, -anything-. She could feel the rune within her hand warm, glowing faintly, and release a trickle of energy.  
  
Nothing happened.  
  
Clenching her teeth in slight frustration she tried again, willing more specifically, for the colour to change. 'Perhaps if I just give the rune some guidance...' She felt it release another thread of energy and power. But the trickle hovered, as if unsure of direction. 'Darker.' She silently commanded. And to her great surprise, it obeyed. The trickle grew to a steady flow, and the former slight warmth in her right hand rapidly grew to an alarming heat. But she could -feel- it working. Chris could sense the rune's magic pushing the hair's natural colour to darken, as if it were building on what was already present in the small lock she held.  
  
She felt light-headed and exhausted when she opened her violet eyes to view her work, but Chris beamed with satisfaction when she looked in her hand- mirror. The small lock of formerly silver hair had become a very solid, very -real- looking black-brown colour from root to tip.  
  
Placing the small mirror gently on her bedside table, she flopped backwards into her pillow, chuckling softly, immensely pleased with herself. Through the fog of quickly approaching sleep, she silently asked the rune to revert the piece of hair to it's normal state.  
  
Feeling a small drip of warmth, Chris cracked open one eye to check.  
  
The inky colour was completely gone, leaving no trace of its presence.  
  
Chris felt like cheering, whooping for joy, doing some sort of strange victory dance in celebration of her discovery. Instead she just grinned with pleasure... and promptly fell asleep.  
  
*  
  
'The two months have gone so quickly...' Chris mused as she stood before the inn's door. Taking a breath, she entered, her gaze falling immediately on the table to her right. Borus, Percival and Leo were chatting loudly, evidently lightly disagreeing over some thing or another. She grinned as she walked over. "I knew I'd find you here, drinking away your first evening off the job."  
  
"You are too cruel, Lady Chris!" Percival grinned cheekily at her.  
  
"And you quite deserve it, Percy!" She grinned as he scowled.  
  
"Besides, it's Friday. We're allowed." Borus smiled, and then gestured to an empty wooden chair between Percival and himself. "Aren't you going to take a seat?" Chris shook her head.  
  
"I thought I'd just check up with all of you... we only just got off this afternoon- I can't believe you!" She glared jokingly at the mugs of beer in the men's hands. Borus and Percival smiled guiltily. "Well..." 'Goodbye for now...' Chris knew she wouldn't see them again before she left: her disguise was to begin Saturday morning. "I have so much packing and preparing to do... I probably won't be able to leave until Monday morning!" She had lied and told the other knights that she was going on a vacation, travelling alone around the continent for the month. They had protested at first, but once she had drilled the fact in that absolutely no one was going to join her, they reluctantly agreed that it -would- be an interesting experience. She felt guilty for lying about her 'travels' and her departure time (in reality she intended to leave much earlier, so as to not encounter anybody in her disguise), but she firmly reasoned that it had to be done.  
  
"Leaving us so soon?" Borus asked, laughter in his voice. "You only just walked in!"  
  
"I am not having a drop of that drink, Borus," Chris raised an eyebrow. "I have too much to do!"  
  
"All right then..." He hesitated and tried to read her violet eyes with his own, to uncover what she was hiding from them. "Oh! I wanted to-" He was abruptly cut off by a rough backslap from a slightly intoxicated Leo.  
  
"You go pack, milllllllady!" Leo either didn't notice or blatantly ignored Borus' glare. "We'll be there when you're ready ta leave. Our Lady Chris ain't going anywhere without us sayin' goodbye!"  
  
Chris mentally winced. "Ah... indeed." She smiled warmly at the group and turned to the door. "Goodbye, then."  
  
Borus chorus goodbye with the other two, and watched her exit. "She's acting-"  
  
"-Like she's hiding something?" Percival continued for his friend.  
  
"Yes... But I can't figure out what it could possibly be."  
  
"I suppose we'll find out eventually. She's never been good at hiding important things from -us-." Percival puffed his chest out jokingly, and then deflated with a laugh as he saw Borus' eyebrows raised. Percival sighed. "We'll just have to be patient."  
  
"Heh. Easier said than done."  
  
* * * *  
  
A/N:  
  
Well. Not my best, that's for sure. Was it confusing? I'm sorry if it was- things are going to be elaborated on later, if that helps any. ^^;;  
  
The chapters are pretty much all going to be in this format: the beginnings will be 1st person, probably from Borus or Chris, although you never know who else might turn up there.  
  
I'm sure I took quite a few liberties with the whole "True Rune" concept. But I figured that (because it's so powerful) it may not be limited to four 'spells,' and four spells only. Oh well... I'm being 'creative.' Heh. ^^;;  
  
Now -you- can do me a -really- big favour: Please please please (x10000) review! I need to know if I should continue or not... So please tell me in a review? *hopeful look* This chapter needs help, so if you have any suggestions, please let me know- constructive criticism is very welcome. ^_^ 


	2. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: Ack, Do I have to say this again? *sigh* I. Don't. Own. Suikoden. ^_^ Wish I did, though. *drools all over Ace*  
  
A/N: Hallooo! I'm back! (...and a lot faster than I thought I was going to be, too! Hurrah!) Well, here's the second chapter: I hope you like it! ^_^  
  
(Wow, the first section turned out a lot more angsty than I was meaning for it to be... ^^;; whoops. *shrugs* oh well.)  
  
* * * *  
  
I am pathetic.  
  
I am lying to my friends, to my comrades, to everything and everyone that is my life. And yet I struggle forward, plowing deeper into the deceit with every word I utter. I made up my mind the day I discovered I could transform myself with the True Water Rune, but I still can't say whether it was the 'right' thing to do.  
  
I need to do this. I need to live as a normal Zexen, at least for a short while. I can spend eternity being a knight.  
  
But I am pathetic.  
  
Placing my wants above duty, responsibility, and obligations. Placing my wants above my friends... and my loved ones.  
  
But I will do this. Maybe they will understand. Maybe not. But I will do this.  
  
It is too important to me now to back out.  
  
*  
  
"Good Evening, Milady." Chris smiled tiredly at her butler's familiar greeting as she walked towards the staircase.  
  
"I'm off to bed."  
  
"But- without dinner, milady?"  
  
She shook her head. "I'm not hungry, thank you."  
  
"But milady! You must keep up your strength is you are to go and travel alone!" Chris just stopped and looked quietly at her aging butler. "Please just run down to the kitchens to grab some fruit and some bread? I could do it myse-"  
  
Chris smiled reluctantly, and interrupted him. "I will go, thank you sir." She had been far too pre-occupied to even consider food when she had walked in her front door. But her butler was often right, and some fresh bread and milk wasn't sounding so bad.  
  
She arrived at the kitchens and peeked around the doors, suddenly feeling as if she were six again, and trying to steal a snack while the cook had his back turned. She noticed, however, with a twinge of disappointment, that the kitchens were dark and empty. The cook had evidently left for the day.  
  
She stumbled about in the dim light for a couple minutes, trying to reach the pantry without falling or knocking over anything. Her hand finally hit the hard oak of the pantry door, and Chris pulled it gently open. To her great disappointment, it was even darker inside the small lampless room, and the other kitchen lights were too far away to reach now. Sighing at her stupidity, she timidly patted the shelves in search of the familiar smooth texture of the bread-box. Chris was pleasantly surprised when her hand soon thumped against the hollow box. She grinned, yanked open the wooden lid and grabbed two large dinner rolls from the black interior. She closed the bread-box and retreated as quickly a possible from the kitchens, all the while nibbling on a bun, and deciding that it was FAR too much work to go hunt for any milk in the darkness.  
  
*  
  
Chris awoke early the next morning, feeling slightly apprehensive about the enormity of what she planned to do. While she had 'practiced' often with the rune, she had never changed more that one aspect of herself at a time, and had not attempted darkening her -whole- head of hair. But time was flowing on and she knew she had to begin.  
  
She got dressed in some comfortable breeches and a long-sleeved shirt, locked her door, perched herself in a large, comfortable armchair, and took a deep breath.  
  
It had begun.  
  
*  
  
Two hours later, a quarter of Chris' silver hair had been successfully transfigured into a deep mahogany colour, but her bangs were plastered to her temples with sweat from the effort it was taking. Through her haze of concentration, she didn't notice the deep voices drifting up from the front hall. Neither did she hear the muffled footsteps coming up the stairs.  
  
"Lady Chris?" She bolted out of her concentration with alarm and surprise, nearly falling out of her chair in the process. "Could I come i-"  
  
"NO!" She interrupted with dismay. There was a pause. "I'm... packing, and everything is strewn all over the floor. Borus, you -really- don't want to come in."  
  
"...If you say so..." She could hear the slight threads of laughter in his voice. "Well, I suppose that I'll just have to talk with you before you go, then." With a pang of guilt, she heard him step away from the door.  
  
Her silence was his only response.  
  
"You will say goodbye, won't you?" His voice was quiet and soft.  
  
"Of course." 'I'm sorry Borus... I'm so sorry...'  
  
"Alright then... Goodbye, Chris."  
  
"...Goodbye..." Her shoulders sunk in shame as she heard him walk back down the hall.  
  
*  
  
It was a long while before Chris could concentrate enough to retreat into the familiar blackness of the rune.  
  
She felt horrible for lying to Borus and the other knights... but she knew she couldn't risk telling them. They would try to talk her out of it, or stop her. Even if they allowed her to continue with her plan, she -knew- that they had no talent for acting. They would mistakenly reveal her identity by their actions or words, and Chris couldn't bear the thought of the city knowing that she was deceiving them. For as soon as one citizen discovered what she was doing, she knew the rumors would spread like a horrible flood, consuming Vinay del Zexay.  
  
'They'll hate me when I get back.' She thought wretchedly. 'Borus and Percival and Leo and Roland and Salome... maybe even Louis. I've deceived them. I've lied to them...' She bowed her head and closed her eyes, sitting still and silent. 'Just concentrate... Don't think about that yet... ...just... concentrate.'  
  
*  
  
Chris gritted her teeth and forced herself to squeeze a trickle of energy from the True Water Rune. 'Last... piece...' Agonizingly slowly, the hair grew darker and darker. She cut of the energy source at just the right moment, and tiredly dropped the final lock of hair. She felt like she would collapse at any moment: it had taken most of the day just to change her whole head of hair. Even though, with practice, it had become easier and easier to use the rune's power, she had known that it would be difficult... 'but not -this- difficult!' She thought as she forced her drained body off of the chair, and began to tiredly totter towards her bed. Her stomach disagreed, however. It grumbled and groaned and Chris sighed. She was starving. She slowly gained better control of her exhausted limbs as she cautiously headed downstairs, toward the kitchens. She didn't know where her butler was, and the last thing she wanted to do was run into him.  
  
Before reaching the kitchens, Chris peeked out of a window and noticed, with a grin, that while it was slightly cloudy and drizzling outdoors, it wasn't yet dark. No need to fumble endlessly around THIS time.  
  
The kitchens were again empty, as the cook usually got Saturdays off, unless of course, there was some important dinner taking place. She headed for the pantry again, and was surprised to see (now that there was light) that the bread-box was the -only- thing on the shelves. She pulled open the creaky lid, and was dismayed when she found that the two rolls she had eaten the previous night had been the last two rolls in the box.  
  
Grumbling to herself about hired help and grocery shopping, she dragged herself out of the pantry, and removed herself from the kitchens.  
  
She grabbed a large charcoal-coloured cloak from a closet, fastened it, and threw the hood up in order to conceal her hair. She was immediately thankful for the light rain that was falling, for she did not look suspicious on the streets with the grey hood of her cloak up.  
  
*  
  
Anna had been standing in the rain, on the same street corner, for three consecutive hours. She didn't seem to notice that her chestnut hair hung limply around her face, dripping at the ends, or that her olive- coloured cloak was stubbornly sticking to her. She just watched the people pass; a wet, grey crowd on a wet, grey street in a wet, grey town.  
  
She knew what she meant to do. The almighty Captain of the Zexen Knights had a month's break, and was apparently taking a vacation. Alone. She had overheard it in the grimy tavern the six knights would often visit. Anna smiled to herself. While the "Lady Chris" -intended- to make this a short jaunt, Anna had decided that the knight's removal from Vinay del Zexay would be more... permanent.  
  
*  
  
Chris tiredly left her house, glad that the shop wasn't too far away. She decided that she'd grab some apples, cheese, and some bread, then head back home again. She wished to spend as little time as possible out in the public, and her heavy limbs were calling desperately for sleep.  
  
As she turned left around the corner, she just barely heard someone, a stranger, greet her. She smiled and continued, just wishing to make the trip as fast as possible.  
  
*  
  
"Lady Chris." Anna greeted quietly as the knight passed her. She saw the younger woman smile absently in reply, but her gait did not slow. Anna was too shocked to be annoyed at the younger woman's manners... for she -knew- that the famous captain had very distinctive SILVER hair. And this woman, who had most definitely been the captain herself, had a tiny lock of dark brown hair dribbling out from under her hood. Anna just stared after Chris, watching silently as the knight tucked her hood more securely over her face, hiding the mysteriously coloured hair, and continued to stare as Chris turned into a shop two doors down from where Anna stood. "Well, this is certainly an interesting... development..." She muttered quietly to herself. "We'll just have to look into this, now, won't we?" Anna leaned back against the wet stone of the building, arms crossed across her chest, waiting and watching.  
  
* * * *  
  
A/N: Anna's motives will be made clear gradually: this was just her introduction, after all! ^_^ So now one person knows about Chris' identity... the second one I mentioned in the summary isn't going to come until a little later. ^_^ Any guesses?  
  
My plan for this chapter included a little more Borus, but he got shoved into chapter three instead, because I liked where this chappie stopped. *pats Borus on the head* It's ok... we still love you! ~_^  
  
I'm sorry if this chapter was boring... things will start to pick up soon enough- I promise! ^_^  
  
Now, dear reader, I know that you are such a nice person... so REVIEW! Pleeeeeeease? ^_^  
  
*  
  
I officially adore the following people: ^_^  
  
Sindaaraniel: Nice name- is it LOTR influenced? ^_^ Well, I have continued thus far... but a shirtless Yuber? Hmmmmm... Could I have a shirtless Ace? *drools* Now THAT would make me continue... *goes off into la-la land, thinking of Ace* *hits head on desk* Bad Revia. BAD. ~_^  
  
Crimson Rogue: There just aren't enough Chris/Borus ficcies out there! Yay Chris/Borus! ^_^  
  
Reemossa: I'm glad you liked chapter one- hope you like this one, too! ^_^  
  
***Thanks SOOO much for reviewing!*** 


	3. Chapter Three

Disclaimer: *sigh* Again? *sigh* Sadly, I do not own Suikoden. Never have, never will. *pouts*  
  
*perks up* I do, however, own the rights to poke this shirtless Ace plushie that Sindaaraniel mentioned! *beams and pokes*  
  
A/N: First bit is from Borus' perspective... I couldn't fit his name in there without it sounding awkward and weird. Heh. Sorry 'bout that. ^_^ And, just cause I feel like mentioning this, there are some fluffettes (yay for fluff! I *live* for fluff...) in this chappie... yay!  
  
There's a little bit of colour knowledge needed for a small section of this chap- you know: red + blue = purple. I take art, so it's obvious to me, but I don't know about others, so I'm sticking this in just in case. ^_^  
  
Well, here we go...  
  
* * * *  
  
Chapter Three  
  
* * * *  
  
I worry about her, when she goes off on these adventures by herself. It's not as if she's incapable: she is VERY far from that. Neither is she weak, or in constant need of help, as she so fears.  
  
I worry about her because I care for her - we all do - and she doesn't seem to quite understand that. Sure, she KNOWS... mostly.  
  
But I don't think she understands.  
  
*  
  
Chris slept late into the next morning, only waking up when she heard the hustle and bustle of the street filter in through her window. She bolted out of bed, and quickly changed into a pair of breeches and a loose cotton shirt, cursing herself for not getting up earlier. Chris grabbed an apple that she had purchased the day before and, taking a bite, she peeked in a mirror. She nearly fell over backwards from shock.  
  
She had forgotten that her hair was so... -dark-.  
  
She quickly pulled a brush through it, grinning slightly, and then sat down in the same chair that she had occupied the previous day.  
  
It was time to complete the disguise.  
  
She slipped easily into the blackness of the rune, and began the process on her violet eyes. She had discovered that the transformation was similar to having a block of wood: it is -much- easier to carve the piece of wood into something new than to turn it into metal. With the rune, it was much simpler to build or take away something that was already there, than to create something entirely new and different.  
  
She pictured her own violet eyes in her mind, and released a flow of energy, willing the rune to temporarily remove the red half of her eye colour. She directed the current to her right eye, feeling some heat and a tingling sensation as her eye colour changed from purple to a bright blue. She could feel the colour, as if it itself were solid, shrinking and distorting, until it was a new shape; a new colour entirely.  
  
She scrubbed at her right eye with the back of her hand, trying to will the tingling to go away. The one eye began to tear up of it's own accord, and Chris stopped herself from rubbing at it any harder. She squeezed her eyes shut, and opened them, blinking rapidly to dispel the right eye's moisture.  
  
She peeked in her mirror, and nearly laughed out loud at the sight she made. One eye was it's normal violet, and the other was a bright cerulean blue. Chris was surprised at how... different she looked. '...Which is just what I want.' She thought happily.  
  
She smiled with satisfaction as she perched in the armchair, and began to 'fix' her left eye.  
  
*  
  
It was just past nine o'clock in the evening by the time that Chris had shoveled everything she needed for the month into two large leather saddlebags, and prepared herself fully for departure. She had locked her armor in a trunk, leaving it in her room, and had wrapped her sword in soft cloth, then bundled it in with a long roll of an extra cloak and blanket. She hid a dagger in her tall brown boots: years of carrying and wielding weapons were not easily abandoned.  
  
She had already prepared her white mare for the short journey to the inn she planned to stay at, and Chris had left the horse tethered to a post in the front yard.  
  
Her first trip down to her waiting horse was uneventful: she carefully and securely strapped the long bundle to the back of the plain leather saddle, and dashed back to her room for the saddlebags.  
  
The second (and last) trip didn't quite end up as planned.  
  
*  
  
Borus meandered past a tethered white horse, and up the path to Chris' front door. He had spent the last two days either with the other knights, or at a small inn, The Dancing Dragon, that he had discovered some months ago. He liked it there: most people didn't gawk or stare at the Zexen knight in their midst. Instead, they treated him like any of the regulars, which quite amused and pleased the knight. It was different than the typical tavern, and he enjoyed it. However, Chris' upcoming departure had been weighing on him, and he wasn't sure how pleased he was. Borus decided to pay her another visit before she left tomorrow, before the public good- byes. He could not deny that he would miss her while she was away.  
  
Lost in his thoughts, he didn't see the cloaked figure rush out of the house until he crashed into it. "Oooff." He took her by the shoulders and pulled her back.  
  
"Chris?" He cloak's hood was up to shield her from the spring's slight chill, and the night was dark and nearly moonless, but he could tell it was her.  
  
"Borus!" She sounded so alarmed that he began to think that maybe it wasn't such a great idea to come tonight. "Borus- Wh-What are you doing here?" Through the darkness, cold see her eyes widen with surprise before she hurriedly looked down to her shoes.  
  
"I- I wante- Oh, nevermind." His eyebrows shot up as he noticed the saddlebags she was carrying. "Are you leaving?" His voice sounded accusatory as it hovered in the still night air, and Borus immediately wished that he could snatch his words back. He hadn't meant for it to sound that way. He felt her shoulders stiffen under his hands.  
  
"...Yes."  
  
"But why?"  
  
"Because... because... I..." Her head remained tilted down, her eyes on the ground. "You... wouldn't understand. Maybe I can tell you when I get back. Not now. Please don't be angry... I'm sorry."  
  
"How do you know I wouldn't understand?"  
  
"Because... Because..." She sounded more and more upset, and Borus was regretting his harsh words. This wasn't turning out how he wanted it to. Not at all.  
  
He gently released her shoulders. She stood before him, shoulders uncharacteristically slumped, her head tilted down, little more than a shadow in the night. "I'm sorry, Chris." With very little warning, she took a tiny step forward and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.  
  
Borus stood, stunned, for a moment before wrapping his arms about her, returning the hug.  
  
"I promise Borus." She closed her eyes, resting her head in the curve between his shoulder and neck. "I promise I'll tell you when I return." She paused, just enjoying the warmth she felt while in his arms. "Tell them I'm sorry. I know they wanted to say goodbye, but... it's only a month." She pulled back and smiled at him before looking back at her feet, hiding her eyes again. "I have to go Borus... before anyone else comes." He could hear bitter amusement in her voice.  
  
"I'll walk you to the city gates."  
  
Chris shook her head. "I'm fine." She hesitated. "You- you should probably go." Borus nodded slightly, but disobeyed, watching silently as she approached the horse he had passed just minutes before, and strapped the bag to her leather saddle.  
  
"Chris..." He hesitated as she turned to him again. "I-" He couldn't say anything else to the expectant shadow. The words just wouldn't come forth. He approached her, and brushed a hand through his blonde hair, searching for words. "I-" He watched her, and then decided to act, abandoning the words that refused to come. He tentatively hugged her, and grinned as she returned it. "We'll miss you."  
  
He felt her tighten her hold as an answer before she spoke, her words muffled by his cloak. "...Goodbye Borus." She pulled away, drawing her hood forward again and turned to the waiting horse. She quickly untied it and led it onto the cobblestones of the road.  
  
Borus stood quietly as she pulled herself into the saddle. "Goodbye Chris." In the dim moonlight, he saw her lips curve into a shy smile before she rode away.  
  
Neither noticed the cloaked shadow watching them from behind the shed.  
  
*  
  
Chris had wandered past the Dancing Dragon Inn a day before she began her current disguise. It's small and brightly painted 'Help needed' sign had caught her attention, and she had briefly poked her head in. The interior was clean and comfortable, with two medium sized, connected rooms, one with a large stone fireplace. Padded benches sat before the hearth and pine chairs and tables were clustered around both rooms. She had decided that she would stay at that inn for the month, and, with a touch of luck, perhaps she could work there, too.  
  
Lost in her thoughts, Chris didn't see the figure flitting shadow-to-shadow in her wake.  
  
*  
  
Chris approached small desk that was set up in the front of the Dancing Dragon Inn, placing her bulging saddlebags on the ground, and removing the charcoal-coloured hood as she greeted the aged man at the desk. He harrumphed and reluctantly looked up from his notebook.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Do you have a single room up for rent?" Chris inquired. The man rummaged around in the top drawer of his desk, and pulled out a large blue book. He flipped the pages until he found the date.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"...Could I stay...?"  
  
"Yes." Chris wanted to bring the man's book down on his head, and beat some new vocabulary into his brain.  
  
"...How much would it be?"  
  
"90 potch a night."  
  
"Alright... I'm going to be staying for about a month..."  
  
The man raised a graying, bushy eyebrow. "A whole month, huh?" Chris nodded in reply as he dug into another drawer. "So what'cher name?" He brandished his balding quill proudly, and held it over the page, ready to write in his newest guest.  
  
"Ria Marmor." The innkeeper scribbled her 'name' down, and reached into the large bottom drawer of his pine desk. Chris could just see the top of his balding head over the wooden surface. He stood up, a key with a small, round wooden block attached to it.  
  
"Yeh can just pay a week at a time, milady." He looked expectantly at her, and she nodded. "Are yeh from around here?"  
  
"I was... born here." Chris counted out the amount to pay for the week, and placed it on the desk. "We moved to... Tinto when I was seven." He nodded absently and swept the potch into a large leather pouch attached to his belt.  
  
"Foller me, milady." He heaved his bulk off of the chair, and took leave of the old desk, and Chris followed as he trekked across the room and up a wooden staircase. He turned to the first room on the right, and unlocked it. "Number 2." He frowned at her and gestured to the painted number on the pine door.  
  
"Thank you, sir." He just nodded gruffly, tossed the key onto the small nightstand and retreated back down the stairs. Chris set her bags down in the corner of the little room and placed her bundled sword gently on the bed. She looked out the window briefly, but was slightly annoyed when she couldn't see much because of the darkness. She turned around, placed her hands on her hips, and stared at her swollen saddlebags with annoyance. "I suppose I should unpack..." She mumbled to herself and began to do just that.  
  
*  
  
Chris thoroughly enjoyed the large, hot breakfast at the inn the next morning. She finished the last piece of egg, left some potch on her table and stood. The large innkeeper had resumed his post at the desk and Chris approached him cautiously. "Excuse me?"  
  
He didn't even look up from some tallies he was scribbling in a notebook.  
  
Chris tried again, a little louder. "Excuse me?"  
  
He glared over a pair of tiny spectacles perched on his large round nose. "Yes."  
  
Chris, with difficulty, refrained from growling at the stubborn man. "There is a sign in the front window- you are hiring?"  
  
"Maybe." She couldn't stop herself from glaring at him as he turned back to his tallies. He looked at her again and sighed dramatically. "Go talk ter me wife."  
  
"But- who- where is she?" But it was not use. He refused to look up from him numbers and papers, leaving Chris to find the innkeeper's wife on her own.  
  
She hoped that she wasn't like her husband.  
  
Chris sighed and wandered into the second room, the fireplace room. She silently came up behind a woman who looked to be about Chris' own age, and timidly tapped her on the shoulder.  
  
The blonde waitress shrieked and whipped around, one hand over her heart in surprise, the other clutching a bright pink rag to wipe the tables with. "Oh, don't DO that!" Her amber eyes were wide.  
  
Chris grinned. "I'm sorry... I just had a question, and he," she cocked her head in the direction of the innkeeper and his desk. "Isn't helping me."  
  
"Oh, Rick never helps anyone." The girl smiled. "I'm Lucy."  
  
"Ria." Chris returned the smile with a wide grin.  
  
"Oh! Are you here for the job? Oh, you'd be perfect. Mary will just love you..."  
  
"Well..." Chris interrupted the babbling Lucy. "I don't know much abo-"  
  
"Oh, it's just waitressing! Oh, and you'd probably work my shifts, too- there are so many PEOPLE here sometimes..." Chris was -going- to say 'I don't know much about the job.' For she hadn't known whether the inn needed a cook, a cleaner or a waitress. But she figured that Lucy had answered her question well enough. "...and you wouldn't believe who some of our regulars are..." Lucy wasn't, apparently, going to wait for the other woman: she grabbed Chris' wrist before Chris could ask just who this 'Mary' was, anyway, and began to drag her towards the kitchens, chattering the entire way.  
  
"...and then there's this knight..." The two young women pushed through the light wooden door and into the kitchens. Lucy interrupted herself to grin at a grey-haired woman, who was up to her elbows in flour and bread dough. "Mary," Lucy pushed Chris before her. "This is Ria." Chris smiled and curtsied, wondering how she should greet the aging woman. "Ria, this is Mary." Lucy accurately read the question in the other girl's eyes, and spoke to Chris with a grin. "Mary is Rick's wife."  
  
The innkeeper's wife smiled warmly. "Hello, my dear." She released the bread dough and wiped (rather unsuccessfully, Chris thought) her hands on the apron covering her blue-grey dress. "Now what would you be here for?"  
  
"She wants to be a waitress!" Lucy eagerly answered for her new friend.  
  
"I see." Lucy smiled kindly at Chris, scrutinizing the young woman with chocolate eyes all the while. "Come, my dears. Take a seat."  
  
*  
  
It was Tuesday night, and Chris' first as a waitress at the Dancing Dragon Inn. The two rooms were fairly crowded, not horrendously so, but enough to have Chris running constantly about on one chore or another. Lucy had been right: she and Chris shared almost all the same shifts, along with two other slightly older women.  
  
Chris was moping up a table in the fireplace room, her back to the corner, when a startlingly familiar voice broke through her thoughts.  
  
"Umm... excuse me, miss?"  
  
Chris' blue eyes grew wide.  
  
No.  
  
Not here.  
  
It couldn't be... not here, not now.  
  
She turned slowly around to face the man.  
  
He was here.  
  
Borus.  
  
* * * *  
  
A/N: Wow, that took a long time (*checks word count* *eyes bulge* Wow, and it's a lot longer than I thought it was going to be, too!). Sorry if it sucks. I usually wait until I have a firm idea of what is coming in the -next- chapter before I post a chapter, but I admit that I am having huge issues with chapter four. I am so sick of this chapter that I decided to throw my self-imposed posting-laws out of the window, into the snow (AGHH! WHY is there snow in April!?! WHYYYY??), and post chapter three, because all of you reviewers were so nice and made me feel all warm and fuzzy, even in -10 C weather. So I hope you liked it... and if you didn't *please* review and tell me why.  
  
Be nice readers and review! *hopeful grin* You can help me get chapter four done! And I really need reviews/emails/contact of some sort to know if this thing is worth trudging through chapter four to get to chapter five (which I have big ideas for- weeheehee).  
  
And now, for the people I officially adore: ^_^  
  
Sindaaraniel: You have guessed correctly... I'm just not tellin' which one of your many guesses was actually right! *evil grin* ooooo... shirtless Ace plushie! *poke poke poke* *giggles* *poke poke poke* *giggles* ~_^  
  
Death-Hunter: I kept writing! Yay! I was going to say 'I-hear!', but I don't think that works... even as a response to 'ya-hear'... haahaha.  
  
Runa-Westwind: Oh yes, very nice and cheesy... I like cheese ~_^ I agree... it's so sad when the game's over and nothing was happening with Chris & Borus. *weeps* Ahh well. The joys of fan fiction! ^_^  
  
Millie-chan: I agree... Borus is crazy for her! (although I must admit that don't mind Percy/Chris, as long as Borus isn't the bad guy. Poor poor, victimized Borus *pats Borus on the head with sympathy*) But Borus/Chris is the best of all! ^__^  
  
Touga: Yes, I admit, I have a severe interest in Ace. The first step in overcoming a problem is acceptance, right? ^^;;; Unfourtunalty, though, I don't think that my wonderful mercenary is going to be making any appearances in this fic... there's just nowhere for him to go! *weeps* ~_^  
  
StickyRice: I'm glad you like the whole inverting the rune's power thing. I was worried about how that would go over with people. heehee. ^_^ And yes, I definatley have a thing for Ace. He's wonderful. And hot. And funny. And Smart...ish. And strong. And funny. And hot. And... *goes off into lala land* ^^;;;;  
  
* * * * Thank you all SOOO much for reviewing!! * * * * 


	4. Chapter Four

Disclaimer: I'll say it once, and I'll say it a fourth time... I, sadly, do not own Suikoden. *sigh* But what I'd GIVE to own Ace! *drools*  
  
A/N: I am -so- very sorry that this took so long... and it's probably not even worth the wait. As I said in Chapter Three, this chapter was absolutely EVIL to write. EVIL! So the end result is that this is the worst chapter as of yet, and it took the longest. *grumble grumble* -_-  
  
* * *  
  
Chapter Four  
  
* * *  
  
I once heard someone say that it is important to live life to it's fullest.  
  
But what if it's not possible?  
  
I will watch my friends die, just as I watched my own father die.  
  
I wish I were stronger. Then I could abandon this place entirely, and escape the ultimate death of all whom I care for.  
  
And even if I tried, took a chance, acted on the feelings that have been building in my heart for years, I would only hurt him. I cannot watch him die. If I begin to sever my ties, remove myself from my friends, then perhaps I will survive -their- deaths. Perhaps I could bring myself to leave before it happens.  
  
I have not seen the future as the former flame champion did. I have not seen the inheritor of this rune. He gave his life for Sana, but his methods are secrets that I do not know. If I were stronger, I would know what to do.  
  
If I were stronger.  
  
But I am afraid.  
  
If I showed him what I felt, and lived on while he died... I would not be able to bear it.  
  
The hug was just friendly, just a reassurance between friends.  
  
It was cold outside, and it was warmth.  
  
It was just between friends.  
  
I can control myself.  
  
It was only between friends.  
  
~  
  
...Was it?  
  
*  
  
Chris spun slowly around, putting a vacant grin on her face. She prayed to the Goddess that her disguise would fool Borus. It was the ultimate test. "Can I help you, sir?"  
  
Borus silently looked at her for a moment. Something was so... familiar about the dark-haired waitress before him. Although her eyes were definitely the wrong colour. He stumbled over his thoughts before remembering what he had meant to say. "...Could I have another ale, please?"  
  
Chris mentally sighed in relief. He had looked as if he were going to say something completely different. "Just a moment... s- sir." Chris whirled away from the table, hoping and praying that Borus had not seen the brilliant red on her cheeks.  
  
This was not turning out as she hoped.  
  
Chris had just walked into the kitchens when she bumped into Lucy heading in the opposite direction. "Oh! Lucy!" The other woman turned around quickly, a tray with a bowl of stew balanced on her palm.  
  
"Yep?"  
  
"Could you do me a favor?"  
  
Lucy smiled. "Sure!"  
  
"What table is that going to?"  
  
"Umm... that one over there." She pointed with her free hand to a table in the entrance room, where a man in grey sat alone at a table.  
  
"Great!" Chris edged closer to the tray Lucy has holding. "I'll take this," Chris gestured to the other woman's tray. "...and you serve THAT man his ale." Lucy glanced at the man her friend spoke of, and Chris watched Lucy's amber eyes light up with recognition.  
  
"Oh, HIM! Sir Borus!" Lucy whipped her tray away from Chris, and smiled mischievously. "Oh no you don't. You're just shy, aren't you?" Chris tried to protest, but was completely ignored. "I think you should get to know him!"  
  
"NO, I don't think s-"  
  
"Yes, yes, you will. Go fetch the ale." When Chris didn't move, she glared. "Now." Chris sighed and hurriedly obeyed. The usually cheerful Lucy wasn't looking too cheerful: she was beginning to verge on menacing.  
  
When Chris returned, tray and mug of cold ale in hand, Lucy grinned and ushered the other women out of the kitchens, in Borus' direction.  
  
"No no no no no..." Chris muttered and tried to head back into the kitchen, but Lucy wasn't hearing any of it. "Lucy!" Chris pleaded quietly. "I CAN'T. Please, I'll take the Entrance Room, and you can take the Fireplace Room instead!"  
  
"Nope." Lucy casually grinned at a customer as they passed. Chris looked to make sure Borus wasn't looking in their direction, and spun around roughly to face the other waitress, nearly losing the mug of ale in the process. She ignored a glare from a patron, and confronted Lucy.  
  
"I am NOT facing him again."  
  
Lucy merely grinned. "Yes you are. You don't LOOK like the shy type... but you'll get over it soon enough."  
  
"No! I'm not shy, it's just that-"  
  
"He's Sir Borus!"  
  
"Precisely!"  
  
"Oh! So you're just star-struck!"  
  
"NO!"  
  
"Oh, we'll fix that soon enough."  
  
"Lucy... please!" Lucy ignored Chris' pleas, and shoved her towards Borus with her hip.  
  
"Go." Chris was VERY thankful that Borus' back was to them, but they were too close to him now to protest any further. Chris pasted a smile on her face as she approached the table, and placed Borus' drink on the pine tabletop. She turned as if to walk away again, but Lucy interrupted.  
  
"It's not too busy tonight... Ria, you should sit down, and chat a little with Sir Borus." Chris' eyes widened in horror as she shook her head.  
  
"No, I don-"  
  
"Yes, why don't you? I don't think I've met you before..." Chris noticed through a growing fog of nervousness and dread that Borus put emphasis on the word 'think.' She silently swore to herself.  
  
"I cannot leave Lucy to serve the whole place by herse-"  
  
"Nonsense. I am perfectly capable." Lucy ignored Chris' feeble protests, and pulled out the chair across from Borus.  
  
"But the place is fairly bus-"  
  
"No, it's not. I've been working here for two years. I know how to deal with the situation. I would be ashamed if I didn't!" Lucy glared. "Now SIT."  
  
"...So you're... Ria?" Chris just nodded dumbly as she was roughly pushed into the chair by Lucy. "I'm Borus, as I think Lucy has already mentioned." Chris was drowning in dread as he smiled at her.  
  
'He'll recognize me... He'll recognize me... He'll recognize me...'  
  
His brown eyes were searching her face. "So, where are you from?" He was -sure- he knew her from somewhere.  
  
"T-Tinto. I was born here, but we moved when I was five." Chris didn't even notice the error in her lie.  
  
"Oh, so you probably wouldn't remember much about Vinay del Zexay..."  
  
"No, I do." She hastily added. "We've visited every so often, so I know my way around." Borus just nodded, and took a gulp of his drink.  
  
"So you haven't been at this inn for long." Chris just nodded, and tucked a stray strand of mahogany hair behind her ear. She had bound her hair differently from her usual style, and was thanking the Goddess that she had remembered to do so. "Are you sure I haven't met you before?"  
  
Chris nodded confidently, although she couldn't quite bring herself to meet his eyes. "Positive."  
  
Borus nodded absently, trying to scrounge up a memory of her, trying to reason out where he could have met her before. Perhaps he had just run into her at one point in Vinay del Zexay.  
  
But she seemed so much more familiar than that.  
  
*  
  
Two hours later, the awkward conversation had grown into a chat between friends rather than a discussion between strangers. Borus was sure he knew the woman. Chris was trying to remind herself that she -didn't- know the man.  
  
Well, RIA didn't.  
  
*  
  
"Friday night's a busy night, and You, sir, are distracting my employee." The large innkeeper had abandoned his post at his desk to approach Borus and Ria, who had been chatting animatedly at a table in the Entrance Room. He noticed Ria whisk off to serve another patron when she spotted him drawing near, and he smiled slightly at the blonde knight. Borus grinned impishly at the aged man.  
  
"Is that such a bad thing?"  
  
"Go elsewhere ta bother her." Borus raised an eyebrow. "Take her ta the market on Port Avenue. Her day off is Sunday." He paused, and Borus missed the mischevious glint in the older man's eyes. "Not tammorrow, but the next day, ya know." Borus raised his eyebrows at the innkeeper's jab at his intelligence, ready to protest fiercely.  
  
"...Take who to what market?" Chris poked her head into the conversation as she passed, a grey rag in hand to wipe down a table. Borus deflated, his anger abandoned.  
  
"You, milady." The innkeeper began.  
  
"How about it? On Sunday?" Borus spoke over the innkeeper's rough voice. Chris nodded, smiling.  
  
"I thought you'd like it n'all... seeing as you moved when ya'were just seven." He smiled reluctantly at his employee. "See the old sights, n'all."  
  
Borus opened his mouth to agree when he realized what the large innkeeper had just said. "Seven? ...I thought you said you were five?" Both men looked at Chris questioningly. She desperately wished that she had ignored the urge to partake in this particular conversation.  
  
"I- Well- I was young, and, well, don't err, remember exactly. Around that range somewhere... Five to seven..." She trailed off, and smiled nervously. Acting was NOT her talent. "Heh, well, I should go... back. Back." She avoided Borus' questioning eyes, turned tail and fled into the kitchens, leaving the light wooden kitchen door swinging emptily behind her.  
  
"It's just a perfectly honest mistake..." Borus began, not sounding entirely convinced.  
  
"This is an Inn, m'boy. She certainly isn't the first person to come here with secrets in her pack." The innkeeper abandoned Borus to keep vigil at his desk once again, completely ignoring the knight. He pulled out his notebook and resumed work on the never-ending daily tallies. "...And she certainly won't be the last."  
  
Borus glared slightly at the Innkeeper's back before he shrugged and turned, heading for the back door which led to the stables.  
  
He crossed the night-blackened gravel of the wide lane that led, through an alley beside the inn, out to the main street and let himself into the dimly- lit stables. "Hello?" He heard a rustling then a loud clang and clatter as a boy launched himself out of what appeared to be the tack room. Borus grinned slightly at the new stable-hand.  
  
"Hu- hullo sir." The boy yawned. "How can I help you?"  
  
"I'm on my way now, so I'll ju-"  
  
"Is YOURS the white one, sir?" The boy's eyes were wide. "It's such a beautiful horse, and I've been thinkin' that it MUST belong to a knight or a nobleman or a noblewoman or a king or a queen or a princess or a pri-"  
  
"No," Borus gently interrupted the boy. "I'm afraid that it isn't my horse." Borus saw the boy's crestfallen look, and hastily added. "I apologize, but I'm sure you'll meet the owner soon enough... Speaking of this white beauty, where is it? ...May I see- you've got me quite curious now!"  
  
The boy nodded and grinned eagerly before he launched himself towards a large stall. "Oh, this'a one, sir!" Borus scrutinized the pale mare before him.  
  
"Has Lady Chris been here?" Many a person could have a horse such as this... but this mare just seemed so familiar.  
  
"N-n-n-no Sir! Not that I know of, sir!"  
  
"Hmm." Borus nodded curtly and moved on towards his own horse.  
  
'The white horse could be anyone's.' He led his chestnut gelding past the mysterious horse's stall.  
  
'Chris isn't the only one in the world who possesses a silver mare.'  
  
*  
  
Anna strode through the front door of the Knight and Squire Inn, and thumped some potch on the Innkeepers desk. "A room for three nights, please."  
  
"Your name?"  
  
"Beth." The scrawny old innkeeper bobbed his head, and retrieved a key from a drawer in his desk. The woman did not look very cheerful.  
  
"This way, milady."  
  
Anna nodded brusquely, and followed the spindly man up the stairs. She took the key from his once he showed he which room was hers, let herself in and closed the door in the old man's face without another word.  
  
Chris was making things difficult for her, and Anna was -not- pleased about it.  
  
She had followed the woman from the Lightfellow residence, and had discovered that the "Silver Maiden" was now going under the name "Ria Marmor," and that the woman had somehow changed her appearance.  
  
Anna's plan was perfect until the younger woman decided that she would get friendly with the blonde knight and get a job at the inn.  
  
Anna shrugged as she removed her cloak and threw it on a small wooden chair. She then detached her bow and quiver from her back, where they had been hiding from prying eyes.  
  
Her arrangement would still work. 'The Knight and Squire' was just three blocks down from the Dancing Dragon Inn: very strategically placed.  
  
Borus and the 'Dancing Dragon' were just small complications.  
  
The arrangement would still work.  
  
Sitting down on the wood floor, she fastidiously began to polish her bow.  
  
*  
  
"Have you ever visited the market?" Borus grinned at Chris as she nodded. It was late Sunday morning, and the two were just passing the Lightfellow residence on their way to the market. Chris tried to avert her eyes from her house.  
  
"Only a couple times, but when I was younger." She went as if to turn left. Borus stopped, raising an eyebrow as she stalled, and turned to look at him.  
  
"Where -are- you going?"  
  
"Errr... Isn't this the route?" Chris couldn't hide the flush of embarrassment creeping into her cheeks. She had turned automatically, moving as if to take her normal route to the market. She preferred her detour, as it allowed her to avoid the crowds of Port Avenue.  
  
"It can be, but -this- is a more interesting route for a visitor." He gestured towards the straight path he had been taking and looked at her for a moment before smiling. She hurriedly joined him as they walked down towards the shore in silence.  
  
Borus grinned as they drew near to the crowd on the sea-side road. The city always felt so alive when there were this many people enjoying the salty air and cool spring breeze in the marketplace.  
  
The crowd of people was enormous once they reached the area where the market booths were assembled and Borus grabbed Ria's hand as he dragged her into the throng. He looked over his shoulder at her face as they pushed through the mass of people, heading for the first stall. She was grinning, and he found the action to be quite contagious.  
  
He couldn't deny that she looked like Chris.  
  
But there were so many uncertainties... Her dark hair and blue eyes for one.  
  
They stopped briefly at a Calerian Merchant's stall, and then continued on.  
  
Chris pushed past a chestnut-haired woman, laughing an apology over her shoulder as Borus pulled her farther into the crowd. For once she was a member of the crowd, instead of the object of one.  
  
It felt nice.  
  
"Oh! Borus, wait! We missed one!" Chris pulled Borus' hand, and directed him over to a duck's booth.  
  
"Could I offer you two some Soy Sauce, quack?" The duck smiled a ducky-grin at the pair, while Borus eyed the Grasslander merchant with suspicion. "How about some of these, miss?" The duck gestured with a white wing to some tiny seedlings. "They're on sale: Just for today, quack!" Chris recognized the seedlings as young versions of the towering water plants in Duck Village.  
  
"Umm, no thank you." Chris smiled at the duck before moving on to the next stall, dragging Borus by the hand.  
  
She found herself surprisingly reluctant to release it.  
  
*  
  
They sat on one of the cushioned benches before the fire, content in their silence after their day in downtown Vinay del Zexay. Chris found herself leaning against Borus' shoulder, his arm draped comfortably around her waist. She closed her eyes, half asleep, lulled by Borus' breathing and the crackle of the fire. She didn't notice that Lucy was deliberately stuffing all of the customers into the Entrance Room.  
  
Borus took a breath, looking quietly at the top of Ria -or Chris'- head, her dark hair shining in the firelight. It was now or never. He needed to know. "Chris?"  
  
"Hmm?" She responded quietly, not realizing what she had just done.  
  
"So I was right, then. You ARE Chris." Her eyes flew open in shock and comprehension, and she pushed away from Borus. She just stared at him, an expression of horror slowly creeping onto her features. "It makes sense. I thought I recognized you the minute I saw you. The horse in the stables. Why you left early. Why your lies didn't match up." Chris flinched and he paused. "You still LOOK like yourself, underneath your blue eyes and dark hair... You still have your voice. Your smile." He shook his head. "I should have figured it out earlier."  
  
Chris didn't know what to say. She wanted to be angry with him for tricking her, for taking her unawares. She wanted to be angry with him for figuring it out so quickly.  
  
But she wanted to explain, to smooth away the look of hurt and confusion on Borus' face. "I- I- Well-" But every explanation, every excuse, seemed woefully pathetic.  
  
"Why didn't you tell us?" Borus searched her face with his eyes. "...And how did you do -this-?" He gently brushed the corner of her eye with warm fingertips. She closed her eyes and leaned faintly into his touch.  
  
"...I... inverted the power of the True Water Rune."  
  
"You WHAT?"  
  
She sighed. "I can explain." '...I think.'  
  
Borus sat back from her, but she kept her eyes closed, her head tilted forwards. "Please do."  
  
* * *  
  
A/N: I'm sorry this chapter turned out to be awful, I really am. Now if you all review and tell me how to fix the bloody thing, then I will go fix it. Until then, I am not going to look at it in case I follow-through with my desire to throw it out the window. ^_^  
  
Pleeaaasee review... please? ^_^ I PROMISE that chapter five is more interesting. PROMISE. *evil giggle* The plot gets a'rollin in chapter five... heeheehee  
  
On a perky note, I got early-acceptance to my university of first choice today! *dances madly around the room* Woooo Hooooo!!! ^_____^  
  
Oh, and I am having issues. There are -three- possible endings to this fic, and I can't seem to make up my mind on which one I want. Errg. -_-  
  
If you want to help, then let me know and I'll send you an email with possibilities (I'll minimize spoilers, but there'll be a couple, obviously) ^__^  
  
***And now for the people that I officially adore!***  
  
Fallen Dragon: Sorry 'bout the cliffie... glad you like the fic, though! ^_^  
  
Reemossa: I stopped cause I was getting into evil chapter four territory, hahaha! ^_^ I'm delighted you think Borus is cute in this! Mwheeheehee And, while this wasn't very fast, it does happen to be very long (fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the viewpoint, hahaha)!  
  
Sindaaraniel: Mwheeheehee! You were right (well, Borus out of your three were right)! ^__^ OOO! A shirtless Ace POSTER!?! Squeeeee! *pins it up on the wall* *drools* heeeeheeeeheeee ^_^ Naw, you are most definitely NOT wasting any of my life ^_^ I almost e-mailed you for help, but then I decided that what I needed help with was too complicated to explain anyway. Heh. Thank you for the offer, though. Very kind of you. ^_^  
  
pikinanou: Snow in April SUCKS. I'm happy, though, cause it was REALLY warm today, and so I am HOPING that there will be no more evil snow. It supposed to go down to minus one on Friday... I think I'm going to cry if it does ;_;  
  
Mika Blue Eyes: hahaa, my 'laws' have tumbled out of the window and are in a heap of mush down on the front lawn... ^_^ Hope you liked this chapter!  
  
SS Sexy: The only thing that's going off a cliff here is this chapter! ^__^ Glad there's lots of other fans of Chris/Borus out there (I don't mind Chris/Percy, as long as Borus is not the bad guy. Which he usually is. *growl* There are FAR too many Chris/Percy fics out there, and not enough Chris/Borus! AGH!)!  
  
Lady of Genesis: O.O I have a double! ...Well, technically, a triple, 'cause I have an evil twin ^_^ (...and so my evil twin and I are not actually related. MEH! ~_^ ) I love snow... as long as its NOT IN APRIL! *glares out the window* I'm happy, though because it was REALLY warm today (shorts and t-shirt weather! Hurrah!), so the snow is all gone... well, mostly. -_-;  
  
Keshoo Neko: Thanks for the advice: I will keep that in mind (although I know that this chapter really WASN'T an improvement... sorry ^^; )! ^__^  
  
Death-Hunter: Sugar-highs are wonderful things. I was on one for about two hours after school today ^___^ And I do hope the beard isn't too long by now! ~_^ heehee  
  
shewhoistoolazytothinkofaname: ^___^ Creative review-name: I like it! hehehehee  
  
Runa Westwind: heeheeheee! Hope you like this chapter (and I hope you got my email... my computer is evil, so I hope that it sent!) ^___^  
  
*****Thank you SOOOO much to all who reviewed!***** 


	5. Chapter Five

Disclaimer: (sung to the tune of "I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves...) 

I have never never owned Suikoden Three! Suikoden Three, Suikoden Three!

I have never never owned Suikoden Three! 

And I never will! (ba doom doom doom...)

^^;; (noo... I'm not hyper...)

A/N: The point of view turns into an all-out free-for-all in the last bit of this chapter... just thought I'd warn you, heh. ^_^

Anything else that needs to be said here? *Thinks* Nah. Don't think so.

* * *

Chapter Five 

* * *

Holy Harmonia is my home. It was my father's and brother's too... before they fell to the White Maiden's sword. 

She is not white and silver, but blood-stained and black.

The bloody maiden. 

She heartlessly removed my brother and father from this world: it could have only been her, with her infamous swordsmanship, that felled my brother and father. 

None other could have even touched them with a blade; such was their skill on the battlefield. 

She is a butcher, a murderer, and she missuses and abuses the beautiful Water Rune she carries in her bloodstained hand. 

She is gravely mistaken if she will remain unpunished, and I am honoured to be the one to punish her. 

She will die, a pathetically small sacrifice in tribute to those she murdered. 

I am honoured. 

*

Anna had avoided the bumbling blonde waitress and sat herself in the nearly-empty Fireplace Room. She went unnoticed as she placed herself in a dimly-lit corner, facing the pair before the fire, close enough so that she could just barely hear their words as they conversed, their figures silhouetted by the glowing fire behind them. 

"You should have told us."

The woman shook her head. "I can't, and I won't, yet. Borus- please, please don't tell them." 

The man paused. "...I won't then. Am I the only one who knows?"

"Yes." 

Anna smiled grimly to herself. '_So you believe, mouse_.'

The pair fell silent, each regarding the fire, their shadows flickering and dancing on the wooden floor. 

Borus sighed. "I should probably go. You're... working tomorrow." He chuckled quietly. "Trust for the great Captain of the Zexen Knights to become a waitress in her spare time." Anna watched as Chris' shoulders shook in quiet laughter. 

"I'll walk with you- it's a beautiful night."

Borus smiled. "Shouldn't I be the one walking _you_ home?"

"Absolutely not." She grinned. 

Borus shrugged good-naturedly. "Have it your way, then."

Anna slid smoothly and silently from her chair with snake-like stealth and left the inn, ignoring the polite farewell from the blonde waitress. 

Once she reached the safe shadows of the street, she ran as fast as her long legs would carry her. She knew they would pass "The Knight and Squire" on their way to the man's residence. 

Anna sneered to herself as she sprinted. 

She would be ready for them. 

*

The pair slowly removed themselves from the field of warmth from the fire and headed for the Inn's front door.

Chris opened the door then quickly stepped back, and Borus looked inquiringly at her. "It's colder than I thought," She supplied the answer with a smile. "I need a jacket."

"You could use mine..."

Chris shook her head, amused. "I'll just run upstairs and grab my own, thank you." She dangled her key in front of his nose with a grin. "It's just upstairs, I'll be right back."

Borus grinned back and nodded. "I'll pay a visit to the stables then... Will we walk or ride?"

Chris poked her head out of the Inn's front door, testing the air. "Walk: it's such a clear night." She withdrew and closed the door. "Chilly, but beautiful." She smiled at Borus and headed for the stairs. 

Chris unlocked her door and stepped into her room. The moonlight filtered in through two windows, one on either side of her small bed. She walked amongst the moonshadows to where her cloak lay flung over a chair in the far corner. She unfolded it and paused: cloak or jacket? She shrugged to herself and fastened the cloak about her shoulders. 

Good enough.

She strode out of the room, locked the door and galloped down the stairs with an impulsive urge to hurry. She stuffed her key into the leather pouch at her belt and strode at a slightly slower pace through the Entrance Room.

Chris pushed open the Inn's front door and watched silently as Borus led his horse from the alley that led back to the stables. 

She let the door close behind her and saw him smile when she turned back to face him, the yellow light from the Inn's window illuminating his face and fair hair. As she walked up to him, Chris had to forcefully quench the urge to throw her arms around Borus' neck like she had so many nights ago... when she had 'left.'

Chris gave him a wavering smile and they began to walk in silence, Borus leading his large chestnut horse behind. 

She looked at Borus out of the corner of her eye, and saw the expression on his face in the lingering light from the inn's windows. Borus was still unsure what to make of Chris' identity. She recognized the look on his features and responded quietly as the Inn's yellow light faded from his features. "I'm still the same person, Borus. Ria IS Chris."

He nodded. "I know... its-" He paused as he felt her hand creep into his. He smiled and squeezed it slightly.

They walked in silence, hand-in-hand, enjoying the unusual solitude on Vinay del Zexay's streets, the horse's hooves keeping a steady rhythm on the cobblestones. 

Chris tried to banish all thoughts of the True Water Rune from her mind. 

She tried to pretend that she had never borne it, that there was a future for her and this man. _'But there **is**__...'_ She shook the thought away, driving away the false hopes. 

_'...but Cyndar's secrets...'_

*

Anna noiselessly watched the three shadows wander the street, slowly approaching the small balcony where she waited. She nocked a white-fletched arrow to the taught bowstring and gently flexed the powerful bow in her hands.

She was waiting for them.

And she never missed.

*

The night was chilly but calm and clear, with a faint salty breeze blowing off of the ocean. The pair found themselves to be walking increasingly slower, wishing to savour their time together and Chris found herself quietly watching Borus out of the corner of her eye, just thinking, just wondering.

Borus paused and Chris stopped with him. 

He turned and looked her in the eyes, ignoring his horse who took a few more paces forward and, too, stopped.

Time stood still.

He silently and gently raised their clasped hands, her hand facing him, and placed a feather-light kiss on the back of her hand, still joined with his own, never breaking their eye-contact. He tried to memorize the smile in her eyes as he clasped her hand with his.

*

"Enough of this." Anna whispered to nobody in particular and drew the bow.

*

Chris stiffened and jumped back, eyes wild, as she heard the sound: the familiar creak and twang of a bow being drawn for release.

Even as she recognized the sound, it was too late. An arrow skittered across the cobblestones, sending up white and yellow sparks as the metal arrowhead glanced off of the stone. Borus' horse reared and ran, panicked. 

*

"Perfect."

*

Borus began to draw his sword as his horse escaped, anger towards the shadow-archer engraved in his features. Chris made a split-second decision.

"_No!_ You can't fight an invisible archer!" She pushed him into a stumbling movement. "We have to get back to the inn!" She had rarely run from anything in her life and this retreat was bitter: they couldn't even _see_ their enemy. But Borus nodded, the anger and frustration etched in his face, and loosened the death grip on his sword. He sprinted beside her, and they hugged the shadows as they ran, trying to make themselves more difficult targets. 

"Come, mouse. Let's begin." Anna nocked the next arrow, and aimed. "Run mouse. You shan't get far. I've only just unsheathed my claws..." She let the arrow fly and smirked when it hit its target with perfection.

After all, she never missed. 

*

Borus had been running by Chris' side when he heard her gasp and saw her stumble. "Chris!"

"I'm... fine." She glared and continued to run, limping heavily as she did so. She could feel the stickiness of blood run down her right calf, where the arrow had penetrated her boots and into muscle.

She gritted her teeth and continued. She had had worse wounds before.

*

Anna drew another arrow and nocked it. "Keep running, mouse." She pulled the powerful bow back, and released, sending the arrow to skitter and dance across the cobblestones. She grinned. "Keep running." She watched the shadows flee. "Good mouse."

*

Her right leg was engulfed in fiery pain, but Chris stubbornly ignored it along with Borus' concerned look as another arrow skipped across the road. 

Not far now.

But the pain was drawing up her leg, creeping past her knee and into her thigh. Something was not right.

She tried to keep up her speed but her traitorous body would not allow for it and she slowed and faltered, stumbling over the uneven paving. 

Borus caught her before she hit the ground and forced her to her feet as another arrow fell short. His eyes spoke for him. '_Keep running.'_ She clenched her teeth and continued, leaning slightly on Borus. '_We're almost there_.'

The three small blocks between the Inn and where the nightmare had begun seemed to stretch and lengthen as they sprinted for the Inn's safety. With just over a block remaining, the arrows stopped, but the two continued to run, not wanting to take any chances.

Borus noticed with increasing concern that Chris was leaning more and more heavily on his shoulder.

Just two more buildings and they would be safe at the Dancing Dragon.

Chris twisted into the Inn's alley that led back to the stables, bringing Borus with her. They both stood, leaning back on the cool brick of the inn, breathing in ragged gasps. Borus watched as Chris bent, not allowing herself to hesitate, and forcefully removed the arrow from her calf.

Borus winced.  
  
She straightened up, leaning heavily against the wall, her head tilted back, jaw clenched and eyes closed. 

"Chris- we have to get inside." A small nod was all the acknowledgement she gave. "_Now_ Chris."

"Alri-" But she didn't finish. Chris had moved away from the wall to take a step with her right foot towards the Inn's entrance- and promptly collapsed.

Borus swore in surprise and hurried to catch her. "Chris!" But her eyes remained closed and her body limp. He swore softly under his breath and gently picked her up, one arm under her knees and the other around her back. He hurried to the Inn's back exit, across from the stables and pushed on the iron doorhandle. He scowled furiously when it didn't open, and tried again. "Locked!" He faced away from the door and began to pound on it with the heel of his boot. "Let us in, damn it!" But nobody answered the door and Borus continued his noisy assault on the wooden barrier. 

A shadow darted out of the stables and Borus tensed and ceased thumping on the door. The moonlight illuminated the boy's worried face and Borus recognized the stableboy who he had met a few days earlier. "Let me in, boy." He ordered.

The stableboy's eyes widened as he saw Chris. "What happened, sir?!" 

"It doesn't matter! Run through front door and let us in here." The boy hesitated. "Be careful, but do it _NOW_." The stableboy nodded and darted off. Borus soon heard the front door slam and the faint thudding of running feet as the boy dashed through the building. He could hear the boy scramble and struggle with the lock on the interior before the door was wrenched open. 

Borus hurried, with as much authority and confidence as he could muster, into the back of the inn and nearly collided with the innkeeper and his wife. 

"Ohhhh!" The aging woman gasped as she saw Chris, and ushered them towards the stairs. "Take her up to her room, sir, and I'll-"

"She needs medical attention, madam." 

"I know, I know! I'll be right there." Borus nodded and climbed up the stairs, the flushed innkeeper running up behind him, carrying an extra key that he had rummaged in his desk for.

"What happened, Sir Borus?"

"I..." _'How do I explain this to him, when even **I**__ don't understand?'_ "I don't know."

"You don't know!? But you were with her weren't you?"

"Yes." 

The innkeeper fumbled with the lock on Chris' room before opening it and allowing Borus to enter. "But... But..."

"A cowardly archer shot at us from the shadows. They missed all but one shot... this one." Chris was still unconscious as he placed her gently down and turned his attention to the wound in her leg. 

"But why?"

"I don't know." Borus shook his head and then looked up as the innkeeper's wife scurried into the room, skirts rustling urgently.

"What happened, Sir Borus?" 

Borus sighed, but before he could answer, the woman's husband broke in. "He doesn't know, dear." She looked at the knight, questions swimming in her grey eyes and then turned hurriedly to the young woman. 

"Knife, please." Borus looked at her outstretched hand with slight confusion. "I need to cut off her boot, sir." Mary looked at him expectantly. "Knife, dagger, whatever. Hand it over."

"Err..." Borus unsheathed a knife and placed the hilt in her impatiently waiting hand.

"Good boy." Borus raised an eyebrow but kept his silence. 

The innkeeper's wife slit Chris' long boot open, careful not to touch skin with the sharp blade and winced as she saw Chris' blood-soaked pant leg. With deft hands she rolled up the fabric, cleaned and bound the gash with strips of clean white cloth. "I told Lucy to put some water and herbs over the fire: she'll be up soon enough, so we just need to wait."

Borus had pulled over the chair to sit beside the bed, and was quietly watching the proceedings, trying to stay out of the aged woman's way. He looked at Chris' face for a moment before he realized that something did not seem right. Her face was flushed, as if she had a fever. _'It was probably just from running...'_

He placed his hand on her brow and his eyebrows shot up. 

"Madam." She looked over from the closet, where she was gathering some blankets. 

"Yes, Sir Borus?"

"I think there is something we have overlooked." The innkeeper's wife hustled over and, with notice from Borus, pressed her cheek to Chris' forehead, checking for a temperature. "We have been running, but her tem-"

"Is unnaturally high. She has a fever." The woman looked slightly worried. "I think that we should perhaps call in a nurse who would know more about this than I." She looked at Borus. "Where is this arrow?" 

"In the alley beside the Inn, I believe. Where she dropped it."

"Go get it. I have a suspicion..." Borus looked at her questioningly. "You were both running, your heart rates elevating. It would pass it through her system that much faster..."

"What-"

Mary looked up from checking beneath Chris' bandages. "Sir Borus, go get that arrow. Now. Take my husband with you."

Borus nodded and strode towards the door. He paused as the aging woman spoke again.

"...I think she's been poisoned."

* * *

A/N: Agh. Another crappy chapter from me. -_-;

I'm afraid the entire thing just plummeted into the realm of the terribly cheesy and melodramatic, and I'm VERY sorry. Heh. This stinks. -_-

I hope that the intro explained Anna a little more: I'm sorry she stayed so ambiguous and random for so long. She has more motives than the ones she stated... they just haven't really surfaced yet. Mwhaha. ^^;; And I hope that you all understand that she purposely aimed every arrow but one to miss, just to keep them running. 

On a good note, I _think_ I've discovered how to use italics and such... Another way that was suggested didn't work on my computers (*pout*), but I hope that this one will! ^_^ *fingers crossed*

And just something random, that has made me very hyper: I blew up the chem lab today... literally. Heh! ^^;; My lab partner and I were working on our project and, well, WHOOSH! It all went up in flames. The chem teacher got out the fire extinguisher and we had to stay for ages after school to clean up fire-extinguisher dust, spilled oil and charred beakers. Funfun. It was last period, and already the entire school knows about it! (the rumor spreading was greatly assisted by the fact that there was a class in there when my lab exploded, and we all had to evacuate the classroom... heh.) ^^;; And _this_ would be why I don't do well in chemistry. 

Err... I don' t think there's much more to say in this odd author's note... 

Other than, of course, the people that I adore! ^_^

* * * * * * * *

Reemossa: Well, I _tried_ to hurry, but it didn't exactly amount to much, did it? -_- Oh well. ~_^ ^__^  
  
SkySong: Glad you think it's cute! ^_^ I hope that you understand more about Anna, now (and thank you for bringing the whole "Who the HECK is Anna anyway?" question to the surface- I kinda forgot that I know and others don't... heh.)! ^_^

StickyRice(x2) : ^___^ Now I'm the one who's honoured! So nice! ~_^ ^__^ Haha, I think that we both have excellent taste, wouldn't you say? Hurrah for the Dancing Dragons! (and boo to snow in April! Lucky for me, it's all gone now *cheers*) I'm glad that you think that Borus is believable, because I'm getting annoyed with him cause he's OOC (but is so dug into the whole friggin thing, that I can't do anything about it *growls*). Grr, I'm getting frustrated because its starting to seem (to me, at least), like everyone's thrown themselves off of the IC ship, and have gone all OOC. -_- And no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to make them IC. *cries* 

Kaineko: ^__^ I agree... there are so few Chris/Borus fics... c'mon, people! See the LIGHT! ~_^

Sindaaraniel: Don't feel stupid, goof! ~_^ I am _positive_ that this stuff is far worse than what you can write. *coughwriteaChris/Borusficcough* ~_^ ^___^ Glad you liked the chapter, though. The encouragement was greatly appreciated, seeing as this chappy turned out like crap, too. *sigh* The cheesiness of it all. -_-;; *perks up* But is that an ACE ACTION FIGURE I SEE!?! *dances with joy* best thing EVER! *takes advantage of the shirt-removable action* shirt on. Shirt off (*drool*). Shirt on. Shirt off (*drool*). Shirt on. Shirt off (*drool*). Shirt on. Shirt off (*drool*). And so on and so forth... Weee! *claps and bounces*

Kurikurei: Well, I continued... hope you like it (even though it's terribly cheesy and horrid...)! ^_^

HikariOmoi: Chris/Borus is wonderful, isn't it? ^_^ I wish there were more C/B fics out there, too (people should write more of them! Glad you liked chapter four and I hope you enjoyed this chapter, too! ^_^

_(...And Libby and Karen don't count for anything because a) Karen's evil {coming over and reading it infront of me JUST to watch me squirm. MEANIE.} and b) Libby's evil, too. ^___^ So there. Heeheehee.)_

**_****Thank you all SOOOO much for reviewing!!****_**


	6. Chapter Six

Disclaimer: So this is the... sixth time I've said this? *sigh* I do not own Suikoden Three. Never have, never will. It's too bad, really. I want Ace. *drools* ...But I think you all know that by now... ^^;;  
  
A/N: I haven't died! Weee! *dances* I'm going to have limited computer access for the next two months, although I am going to continue writing on paper (which I usually do for most of this anyway), so the updates may be a little erratic. Just thought I'd let you all know, so you know that I haven't died, hahaha! ^_^  
  
Oh, and you also may notice that I ditched the formatting that I used for last chapter... the spacing got all messed up and annoying, so I threw the idea out the window. heh. ^^;;  
  
And wow, Borus got a little vicious in the second paragraphy-thingie, heh. Ooops. ^^;;  
  
* * *  
  
Chapter Six  
  
* * *  
  
I love her, and I will not lose her.  
  
*  
  
Borus ignored the innkeeper's presence as he hurried down the Inn's wooden staircase with as much control as he could muster. The familiar heat of anger was pulsing through his blood and he greatly wished that he could run into the cowardly archer... it wouldn't be his fault when they found themselves missing a couple limbs.  
  
"Sir?" The Innkeeper's large boots were making quite a racket in the back hall as he ambled on behind the knight.  
  
"What." Borus demanded through clenched teeth.  
  
"Well, Sir... We must be findin' a healer... and at this time o'night..."  
  
"We'll get the arrow first, then determine where the healer can be found."  
  
"Sir... There's a healer just 'round the corner from 'ere..."  
  
Borus ignored the other man as he opened the Inn's back door and hurried into the chilly night air.  
  
He soon found the arrow and gingerly picked it up. "Sir."  
  
"Hmm?" Borus could see the large black shadow that was the Innkeeper approaching.  
  
"Take this upstairs." Borus placed the arrow in the other man's hands and turned towards the street. "So where is this nurse, again?"  
  
"Ye can't, Sir Borus!" The innkeeper didn't need to see the glare to know that the stony silence was directed at him. "'E could still be out there, that archer!"  
  
"You -said- that it was just around the corner."  
  
"It is, but..."  
  
"-and if you came with me, what do you think you'd be able to do?"  
  
"I-"  
  
"Nothing. We are wasting time. Where is the damn house?"  
  
"-I- It- It's the yellow brick one, with pink flowers in the window boxes. Turn left from the mouth o' the alley, and then turn right at yer first chance. It's the second house on yer right."  
  
Borus nodded brusquely and jogged out of the alley, hand firmly on sword hilt. The aging innkeeper watched him go before he turned and quickly hobbled indoors.  
  
Borus approached the door of the medic's house with caution... he had no idea how he was going to wake up the resident. He rapped on the wooden door and frowned when there was no sound of movement from the inside. He knocked harder. No luck. Harder. Still nothing. He was full out pounding the old wooden door when it suddenly swung open without warning. Silence swept over the street and he stepped back, suddenly feeling a trifle embarrassed. "I- erm... ah..."  
  
A tall, middle-aged woman stood in the door frame, clad in a grey nightgown. She raised an eyebrow.  
  
"I... need a healer?" He shuffled his feet and figured that it was a miracle that the entire street wasn't poking their heads out of their windows wondering what the racket was about.  
  
"I am she." She turned around and headed back into the shadows of the interior of her house. "Just a moment, sir." Borus nodded dumbly and waited quietly.  
  
The woman soon reappeared, fully dressed, with a large leather case in hand. "Should I assume, from your desperation and from the hour of your arrival on my doorstep that this is about your..." She peered at him from behind large spectacles. "...Wife?"  
  
Borus looked confused for a moment. "My wi-"  
  
The healer raised an eyebrow. "Giving birth, I presume?" Borus looked horrified. "...After all, that is usually the only reason I am called out by a frantic male at such an hour..." She took another look at his expression. "...But... it would appear that I am wrong."  
  
Borus nodded.  
  
"Well then," She continued. "What -is- the matter, then?"  
  
"My... friend has been poisoned."  
  
"How?" The woman replied quickly.  
  
"An arrow."  
  
The healer nodded thoughtfully and retreated back into the depths of her home. "I'll just need a couple extra things, then..." Her voice was dulled by distance and Borus figured she had gone upstairs.  
  
The woman soon reappeared with another, very large, black leather case and strode with authority out her front door. "Where?"  
  
"The Dancing Dragon Inn, Ma'am."  
  
She nodded in response and marched towards the Inn, black hair streaming and Borus following in her wake.  
  
*  
  
The door burst open and Mary jumped in surprise before she realized who it was that was striding purposefully towards her. "Oh! Elizabeth! Thank goodness-"  
  
The healer dipped her chin in greeting and rounded on the other occupants of the room. "Out!" Borus, Lucy and the Innkeeper looked at her blankly. Elizabeth stabbed her finger at each of them in turn. "You, you and you! Out! Now!" Borus opened his mouth to protest, ready to voice his growing anger with the circumstances, when the woman interrupted him. "I don't care, -Sir-, who you are, who she is, or what you want." He glared at the tall woman. "Get. Out. Now. You are wasting my time." Borus exhaled furiously and backed out of the small room, glaring fiercely at the tyrant of a healer all the way. "Good." And the door swung shut with a resounding -bang-.  
  
Borus leaned against the wall and glared at the closed door.  
  
"She's an amazing healer, though..." Lucy looked timidly at the angry knight. "...I mean, my brother was sick for ages, and Elizabeth just fixed him right up... He's never had a relapse... He's always so healthy now... And my neighbor, she fell off of her horse... Broke something, she did! ...But Elizabeth came and patched her all up... She's as right as rain now... No stiffness, nothin... Doesn't ride horses anymore, though." Borus showed no signs of paying attention. "...What I'm saying, though, sir, is that... well. Elizabeth will figure out what's the matter... What with the poison and everything... And Ria will be fine... I mean, if Elizabeth can't do it, then nobody can, so..."  
  
"That's enough, Lucy." The Innkeeper crossed his arms and leaned sideways against the wall. "That's quite enough." Lucy glanced at Borus and nodded before sinking slowly to the floor in order to sit cross-legged.  
  
Silence descended, broken only by the quiet murmur of voices behind the door of room #2.  
  
*  
  
"She has most definitely been poisoned, Mary." Elizabeth was bent over a small flask of purple-brown liquid. "I just can't really tell what it is." She swirled the contents of the flask around, squinting her eyes in observation. "The closest readings I'm getting from my indicators are... Mantix..." She continued to squint at the liquid in the flask. "...and Chimera..." She picked up another flask which contained a similar-looking purple-brown liquid, and swirled it around. "The indicators aren't getting anything else from the samples," The arrow stood in a pitcher of red-tinted liquid, and several other flasks were filled with the same fluid. Elizabeth picked one of these up, and poured a small amount of a runny black substance into it, swirling it gently as she did so. The fluid didn't do anything but turn a mucky black colour. "...So it's not snake venom, then..." She muttered to herself before setting the flask down in a group of others. "I'm thinking that perhaps it's a mixture of the two poisons- Chimera and Mantix... although I..." She paused and her eyes widened slightly. "...I -have- seen it once before."  
  
"...Is it curable?"  
  
"I... believe so. If she's strong enough. It's a slow process." Elizabeth turned away from her flasks and replaced the small towel on Chris' forehead with a new, clean one. "I'll have to make the antidote... If I can remember how... but I think it's possible. The standard antitoxens will not work on this, but, with a little time..."  
  
"She doesn't have a lot of time, Elizabeth."  
  
The healer's dark eyes flashed. "You think I don't know that?"  
  
Mary bowed her head.  
  
"I will make the antidote and bring it tomorrow. It should be done by mid- afternoon."  
  
"Thank you, Elizabeth." The innkeeper's wife kept her eyes on her patient as the healer gathered her belongings and left the room.  
  
"I'm staying here... until things blow over." Mary didn't act surprised at hearing Borus' voice as he strode through the doorway. "I've got the room next door to this one... paid up and everything..." He trailed off. "So... Sh-"  
  
"It's as we thought. Poison."  
  
"Is... Is there an antidote?"  
  
"Elizabeth is making one... hopefully it will work."  
  
"Hopefully?"  
  
Mary nodded. "Hopefully."  
  
Borus shook his head in anger and frustration. Hopefully. Just hopefully. She could still die, and he would be powerless to stop it. He turned and in a fit of temper hit the wall with his fist.  
  
"She seems like a strong girl." Mary made no sign of having observed Borus' action. "I'm sure she'll pull through."  
  
Borus nodded, his forehead against his fist, before turning around slowly.  
  
"You should get some rest." Mary searched his face with her silver eyes. He just looked quietly at Chris' still form before nodding reluctantly. "Goodnight."  
  
"...Goodnight." He turned slowly and exited the room, leaving the door slightly ajar behind him.  
  
*  
  
"She'll recover, but she'll have little-to-no energy for the next while- it's an effect of the poison... Perhaps it will even five to six days before she'll be back to her normal state."  
  
Borus looked sharply at the tall healer. "Five to six DAYS?"  
  
She nodded. "I can't do anything else. I made the antidote, I brought it to you as promised. You just have to make sure she takes it, once a day, until it's finished." She glared at the blonde knight. "Do you understand me?"  
  
Borus glared unflinchingly back. "Certainly." Elizabeth swept towards the doorway of room #2 but Borus stepped into her path and halted her. "How much?"  
  
She eyed him imperiously. "80 potch."  
  
Borus looked at her in shock. He had been expecting a sum in the hundreds. "Ar- Are you sure about that, ma'am?"  
  
A nod and a frown was his reply.  
  
"Well..." He fished the potch out of a leather pouch and dropped the sum into the healers thin hand. "Thank you. I may not like you-" She scowled. "- but I thank you for what you have done." The healer nodded and swept out of the room.  
  
*  
  
She was standing in the rain.  
  
She couldn't see the droplets through the grey, but she could feel the cold water run down her neck, could feel it run through her silver hair, could hear it drum on her armor.  
  
The fog was thick and she couldn't see the ground... and she suddenly wasn't sure there even WAS a ground. Just fog, grey and stale to taste. Holding absolutely nothing, but somehow absolutely everything at once. It was blank but it was also somehow filled with the potential of everything.  
  
One second, she was sure there was nothing... and the next an object was looming out at her.  
  
A tree.  
  
A home.  
  
A girl.  
  
An arrow.  
  
And somehow this gloom felt familiar, felt almost warm, when her brain told her that it should have been cold and alien.  
  
This wasn't real.  
  
It couldn't be real.  
  
And suddenly the drizzle became a downpour, lashing at her with its freezing spray.  
  
And then it wasn't raining anymore. Water was everywhere and the grey was gone, replaced by blackness, wetness, coldness.  
  
It was soaking her.  
  
It was choking her.  
  
Slithering around her neck like a great, cold snake, until the pressure was unbearable.  
  
Air.  
  
Fire.  
  
Water.  
  
Earth.  
  
Air.  
  
Air.  
  
Air.  
  
And the gloom was back. And the air was back. A face loomed out at her, a woman's face, worn with grief, worn by hate and hurt alike.  
  
An arrow.  
  
A hand.  
  
A knife.  
  
An arrow.  
  
Blackness everywhere. A voice in the dark.  
  
Yelling.  
  
Pleading.  
  
Yelling.  
  
More voices. Shouts laced with deadly anger.  
  
Yelling.  
  
Yelling.  
  
BORUS!  
  
Scream.  
  
~  
  
Chris woke with a sharp intake of breath. She stared at the ceiling for a moment before shuffling uncomfortably under the heavy weight of the numerous blankets.  
  
"...Too... hot. in here..." She grumbled to herself as she began to push the heavy covers off of her chest.  
  
"What -are- you doing?" Chris dropped the weighty blankets, startled.  
  
"I'm getting up. I'm fine." She ignored her throbbing leg and general queasiness.  
  
"No you are not." Borus just looked at her for a moment from the foot of her bed before approaching her bedside.  
  
"I am getting up. It was just one arrow!"  
  
"'Just one arrow' is enough when it's poisoned!"  
  
Chris paused. '...so that's why...' "...I don't care. I feel fine and I am NOT going to lie in bed like some little princess!"  
  
"You are -not- getting up." He planted his hands on her shoulders, effectively restraining her.  
  
She glared and tried to twist away, but the blankets hampered any movement and her muscles wouldn't seem to obey. "I. Am. Fine." He just looked down at her and didn't react when she put her hands on his chest and pushed as hard as she could... and he didn't budge. Her blue eyes widened in astonishment. She had -never- felt so weak, so helpless as she did now. Years and years of training for the knighthood were insignificant, which just made her irritation with the situation triple. She couldn't even MOVE him! "Let." She pushed and twisted at the same time, trying to force as much strength as possible into her actions. "Me..." She trailed off as she realized that Borus had bent lower to prevent her escape and that they were nose-to-nose. Barely daring to breathe they both quietly regarded one another. "...Go..." Chris stubbornly whispered before Borus gently pressed his lips to hers.  
  
She closed her eyes and threw away all reason. She was no hero, no captain, no rune-bearer.  
  
Just Chris.  
  
She tilted her chin up slightly, drinking in his warmth, his smell, loving the way his lips felt on hers.  
  
Chris shifted one of her hands and Borus abruptly realized what exactly he was doing. 'She is my CAPTAIN, the rune-bearer. What do I think I'm doing? -I- may love her, but I cannot force this upon her...' He pulled back hurriedly, avoiding her gaze. "I- I'm sorry milady." He stated quietly and left the room.  
  
Chris stared for a moment before she buried herself in the heavy covers. It was suddenly far too cold in the room.  
  
*  
  
"Can I help you, Ma'am?"  
  
The woman started slightly at the voice and at the small silhouette looming out of the night. "No. Thank you."  
  
"The door is locked, Ma'am."  
  
"I realize that." She turned away from the Dancing Dragon's back door to face the short stable boy. "Would you happen to know what time it is?"  
  
The boy shook his head.  
  
"Fine." 'It-must- be past midnight, it must be.' Anna peered through the darkness at the boy and frowned. 'She'll have fallen asleep by now.' "Well... Could you let me in?"  
  
"Oh! I am so sorry Ma'am!" The boy looked chastened as he nodded, but he couldn't resist trying to peer through the darkness under her hood. "Did you know, you are the -second- patron in two nights to wants to get in the back door? I don't think we should even -lock- the back anymore! Or, at least, give me a key, even though Rick says I'm too little and I'd lose it... But just last night, th-" He sounded almost excited.  
  
"I don't care, child." The boy looked slightly stunned before he nodded and dashed off to the front door.  
  
Anna waited silently for the boy to return through the interior of the Inn, and merely frowned at the child when he managed to get the door open. She strode through it and waited for the boy to leave before climbing the wooden stairs that lead to the rooms. Room #2 specifically.  
  
She paused before the numbered door, listening intently so as to be sure that Chris was the only one in the room beyond. Anna crept silently into the darkness of the chamber, closed the door behind her and locked it securely.  
  
It was time.  
  
*  
  
Chris woke suddenly and silently from another strange dream; she had been told by Mary that the dreams were fever-induced, and Chris wasn't going to argue with the theory. She cast her eyes around the pitch blackness of the room, waiting to adjust. She heard a lock click. A footstep. A tall form seemed to be... moving? Chris stayed dead still. Yes, it was most definitely moving... towards her.  
  
'My dagger...' Chris thought wildly. 'Where is it?' She cast her eyes around desperately, but couldn't see anything. She had been sleeping on her side, with her right hand under her pillow, and she could barely suppress a smile when her fingers brushed against metal. 'Thank you, Borus.' She waited silently and pretended to be asleep, watching the shadow through her eyelashes.  
  
The stranger was cloaked and hooded, and Chris was getting increasingly suspicious. What were they planning? Her fingers curled tighter around the hilt of her dagger as the figure loomed above her.  
  
She heard the unmistakable sound of a blade being drawn and whipped out her own. She was stunned when her drained muscles didn't respond: the dagger was barely out from under the pillow when a similar blade was pressed to her own throat.  
  
"Make ONE sound, ONE move, White Maiden, and I slit your throat."  
  
* * *  
  
A/N: Well, I wrote that in about three sittings... and I think it shows. Heh. Well, I am definitely going to finish this story... although I still haven't picked an ending yet. ^^;; I've kinda narrowed it down a little. There's two options now. Ugh. -_-;  
  
Oh, and Elizabeth's 'indicators' are kinda like pH indicators, if anyone takes chemistry... I figured it would be possible to get some chemical that would react a certain way with one poison, and not with another, which is the essence of what's she's doing with her indicators. ^^;;  
  
Alrighty... I have just spent four hours straight in this uncomfortable chair writing, so I am going to conclude this author's note now, with, of course, The People I Officially Adore. ^__^  
  
Mika Blue Eyes: I'm glad you didn't think it was cheesy, although this chapter may change your mind on that statement, haha! ~_^ ^_^ I adore fluff, but I -really- can't write it. *sigh*  
  
Eiji: Hehehe, yes Borus is SO lovable. ^_^ *huggles Borus* I think he's great. Second only to Ace... and tied with Futch. But that's another matter. ^^;;  
  
Sticky Rice: Your review was really sweet: it really gave me motivation when I was getting irritated with the fic. Thank you! ^_^  
  
Quadrono: Heh, so much for the whole 'update soon' thing, huh? ^^;;  
  
Fallen Dragon: Thank you! ^_^  
  
kaineko: I agree: Borus is totally head-over-heels for Chris throughout the game. Squee! SO cute. ^__^ Did you see the scene with the Zexen knights in the Cyndar ruins before Chris fights Sarah? Borus was -SO- cute. ^__^ I like Jaques/Aila, too- they have great fluff potential, although I haven't really come up with a good plotline... maybe during the summer something with occur to me, hmm? ^_^  
  
******* Thank you all SOO much for reviewing!! ******* 


	7. Chapter Seven

A/N: Sorry this took so long. I couldn't stop editing... and even now I'm still not happy with it. But I was tired of it hanging over my head so I decided to just get it over with and post it.

Thank you so much to everyone who sent me notes and reviews!

Disclaimer: Don't own Suikoden 3, never have and never will. Not making any money off of it, either.

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Seven**

* * *

My brother was three and a half years older than I, nearly to the day. 

When he began to train with other Harmonian boys his age, he would come galloping home, excitement in his eyes and laughter on his lips, eager to tell me what he had learned, what he had done. And then, because he was kind and eager and energetic, he would teach me, all the while pretending that he was the gruff commander and I was the ten year-old boy in much need of practice.

He would strut around our yard, hands behind his back, a juvenile parody of the men who taught him the magic of bows and arrows, daggers and swords, shields and spears.

And I listened.

And I learned.

And I became just as talented as he.

And then our father saw, and he learned that his daughter was not was she seemed... and he was proud. So very proud.

My most cherished times were these. Of days of dappled sunlight on auburn hair, of glittering mirth in his blue eyes. Days filled with work and sweat, but days that were so rewarding, so _alive_, I thought I would burst with happiness.

And they were shattered by war, a black bloody game of life and death.

My brother never lost a game.

But he lost that one.

* * *

Chris glared defiantly at the hooded form above her, silently challenging it. 

"It's no use pretending that you have strength left, you wretched girl." Chris tightly gripped her dagger in anger and disbelief. '_How...?_' "Get up."

Chris glanced around her, fishing for time and with it, a plan.

"I said Get. Up."

"I... can't." Chris was fairly sure she could, if she tried... but the shadow woman didn't need to know that.

With a sudden wrench of her hand, the cloaked woman grasped the other's shirt collar and forcefully jerked her forwards so that she was sitting. Chris' dagger dropped off the edge of the bed and landed on the floor with a dull thump. "I will drag you, if I have to. Get on your feet." Chris glanced wildly at her abandoned weapon. How could she have released it? The cloaked form yanked Chris toward her for emphasis. "I said –" Chris looked up at her assailant with steely eyes. And that was when it hit hit her.

The bow.

The quiver.

The white-fletched arrows.

A shadow figure, one that seemed to know far too much.

"You!" Chris struggled back. "It was you!"

"Your point?" Anna replied icily. "I told you. Get Up. These are no games I am playing." With another forceful pull, Chris was on her feet, and found it disturbingly easy to pretend to be incapable of holding herself up. She slumped sideways towards the wall, and as Anna, with a muttered curse, stepped to intercept the fall, Chris straightened, years of training for knighthood giving her the strength she needed. Putting all of her remaining force into a fierce punch, Chris counted on catching the stranger unawares.

But the blow was stopped, only centimeters from Anna's nose.

"You stupid girl." Anna whipped out her dagger and, before Chris even had time to think, smacked the side of her head with the heavy pommel. Chris crashed to the floor, unconscious, hitting the wall with her elbow as she fell.

Anna bent and slung the unconscious woman over her shoulder. She headed quickly for the exit, and fumbled with the lock for a second, before swinging it open and hooking her foot around the door in order to close it behind her.

She was relieved, as the common rooms of the Dancing Dragon Inn were dark and empty on the late Wednesday night. Anna scurried as quickly as she could through to the back door, Chris still limp over her shoulder, across the back courtyard, and into the stable.

"Boy!" There was a rustling, clanging and soft "Ouch!" before the little stableboy hurried up to her. "Get me the white mare."

"But, m'am-"

Anna paused, and changed tactics. "I need the mare, dear child, to take my dear cousin home." The boy looked up at her, questions written on his freckled face. "She's sick, you know, and we must get home SO very badly. You must understand!" Anna threaded as much warmth into her voice as she could muster. "Please understand, child. Could you please fetch me the mare? It's my dear cousin's horse, after all."

His eyes suddenly shone. "Really?" He grinned. "I was so curious about th-"

"NOW, dear."

"Oh... umm... yes, ma'm." He turned quickly, and scurried into the depths of the stables, glancing just once over his shoulder at the strange, hooded woman and her 'dear' unconscious cousin, a small frown on his freckled brow.

* * *

Borus woke with a start. 

He was sure he had heard something, a soft thump that had wakened him from his sleep. Whatever the sound had been, it did not reoccur, and a still silence smothered the room.

But with each second that passed, with each breath that he held in the thick stillness of his room, he was more and more positive that it had come from the room next to his. Chris' room.

Perhaps he should check. Make sure she was alright.

He rolled groggily out of bed, and stumbled about in search of clean clothes before heading quickly out the door.

He stopped in front of the door to Chris' room, and listened. Silence reigned. "Chr- Ria? Are you there? Can you hear me?" He called softly through the wooden barrier. "Hello?" Was he just being paranoid?

He knocked lightly on the door, and was surprised to see that it shifted under the slight pressure. It was open. The innkeeper's wife would -never- have left it that way.

He pushed open the door, hand on sword hilt. "Ria? Are you here?" His eyes widened in horror as he took in the scene before him.

The bed was empty, the blankets spilling off one edge and pooling on the floor.

Chris' dagger, the one he had placed under her pillow incase of emergencies, was lying abandoned on the floor, glittering coldly in the feeble moonlight.

Voices in the courtyard. A horse's hooves on cobblestone.

He dashed to the window just in time to see Chris' fine white mare, like a ghost in the night, take off down the alley with two figures on its back. And one was slumped, unconscious, thrown like a bag of potatoes over the saddle.

"Chris!" He whispered, his anger sparked and flaring to life. He bolted out of the room, swearing loudly and vehemently, and continued to do so until he had charged right out into the middle of the street and could only hear hoof beats through the darkness before they faded to a halt. He momentarily considered running in the direction that they seemed to have gone but quickly decided that traveling on horseback would be the better choice.

He ran straight back to the stables and banged on the open doors until the little stable hand came running. "Get me my horse, boy. NOW!" The horses shifted nervously at the thunderous intrusion, and the stable boy gave him a slightly fearful glance before muttering "Yessir!" and dashing off to fetch the knight's horse.

This couldn't have, _shouldn't have_, happened. This was one of the reasons why he had a room beside hers. He paced back and forth, bitter anger and guilt fueling him on.

"Sir?" The boy approached him timidly, the horse's reins in his skinny hands.

Borus whirled around, and gruffly snatched the reins from the boy. "Who was that, the person who just rode away? Why were they here? Why did she take Chr- Ria?"

"I've seen her before, sir... but she was snooping about tonight, sir, and I dunno why sir, she said she was Ria's cousin, sir, but I dun believe her, sir, she acts all nice at one moment, sir, but then's horrible the next, sir. Ria was sick, she said, and they were going home, sir."

"HOME?"

"Yes, sir, home, sir. That's what she said." The boy kicked his foot in the dust, and nervously kept his eyes on his scruffy boots.

"Well, she was LYING. Ria doesn't have any cousins that I know of that are out to ki-"

"Meybee, by home, sir, she meant her temporary home? Like an Inn, sir? I know of many people that call this place home, sir, after they stay here for a bit, sir, when they's away from home, sir."

Borus nodded as he hurriedly got into the saddle. He hesitated, and then quietly stated, "Thank you, boy," before escaping from the Inn's courtyard.

* * *

Anna hurriedly dismounted, dragging Chris down with her, and booted the white mare towards what appeared to be a half-asleep stable hand. Chris was showing signs of awakening soon, and Anna wanted the situation under her control when she did. 

The spidery old innkeeper gawked as she entered his establishment, half dragging, half carrying an unconscious woman. He immediately stumbled out from behind his small desk and assisted Anna in bringing Chris upstairs. "She's my cousin and she's rather unwell at the moment." Anna offered as her only explanation as they trudged up the wooden stairwell. When they reached room 17, Anna halted. She dug around purposefully in her purse before pulling out a considerable amount of potch. She looked him straight in the eye. "We were never here." The spindly innkeeper looked rather astonished as she poured the money into his bony hands but after a moment's hesitation, nodded slightly and placed the potch in his pocket before trundling back down the stairs.

Anna unlocked her room and slid inside, dragging Chris behind her. She shut the door quietly after her and immediately began preparations.

* * *

Borus almost laughed at how hopeless this seemed. Here he was galloping down the road in the middle of the night, chasing after a shadow who had stolen Chris_and_ Chris' horse. And to top it all off, he was heading in the direction they had just been running _from_ a few nights before. 

Wait.

Borus slowed his frantic pace. '_This is where we were on Sunday when..._' He halted completely, then wheeled his horse in a tight circle. The closed windows of houses and storefronts glared at him vacantly through darkened panes, while a feeble light beamed through the glass of a small inn. "The Knight and Squire" was written in peeling red paint above the door.

_"Meybee, by home, sir, she meant her __temporary home? Like an Inn, sir?"_

An Inn.

The Knight and Squire.

Could this be it?

A stable hand seemed to be sleeping in a pile of hay beside the building. Borus dismounted and nudged the teenager with his boot. With a startled, high-pitched yelp, the boy jumped upright, almost colliding with the knight on the way. With barely a pause, the teen began to ramble, "Welcerm' to the Knight n'Squire, Sir, how can I help 'ee? Yer horse needs stablin'? Lemme get tha'!" All Borus did was nod, and the lanky teen was leading his mount gently away.

Borus shrugged, then headed straight for the Inn's front entrance.

The thick wooden door opened with a squeal of hinges. Borus strode purposefully inside and immediately confronted the bony old innkeeper. "I am looking for two women, sir, one possibly cloaked and hooded, the other has dark hair, blue eyes... she may or may not have been 'sleeping' or 'sick.' The former may have been since Sunday, possibly earlier, and she may have said that she and the other woman were cousins or otherwise related..."

The innkeeper paused, his thin eyebrows raised in silent question.

Borus sighed in exasperation. "Answer the question. WERE they or WEREN'T they here?"

"I..."

Borus glared.

"I-I-I... dunno sir." He took a shaky breath. "...M- may have... May not ha-"

"MAY have!"

"Your descr-"

He pounded his fist on the desk. Enough of this rambling. "Look, sir. I appreciate that you are protecting your patrons, and at any other time, I MIGHT have been impressed. But today I AM NOT!" His voice became increasingly louder as his anger grew. "One is a very dangerous woman, who has tried to KILL the other on an occasion just days back. Now you WILL TELL me if they came here, or I WILL get drastic." He placed his hand on his sword hilt, daring the innkeeper to refuse him.

The old man regarded him with wide, nervous eyes, before stuttering. "I- I- Th- They aren't h-h-here!" His long, thin fingers fluttered through the records and twiddled a pencil as he switched his wide-eyed gaze to fall just over the young knight's right shoulder. "P-p-perhaps they went down the road? T-t-to the f-f-Fox and Pheasant?"

Borus raised a blonde eyebrow.

"I-i-in fact, I-I-I'm sure I saw them go past... they were g-galloping, I th-think. Awful rush."

Borus glared. There was no time to be wasted. _'But if this man tells the truth, I cannot rightfully assault him in any way. But he stutters and flutters and does not meet my gaze. Perhaps I just make him nervous. Perhaps he is hiding something from me. But if he said that they galloped by... and if this Inn is not too far off, then how can I judge him to be a liar? Perhaps, if I hurry...' _"Where is it?"

"J- j- j- just around the first corner, on the left, sir, thataway," He gestured with his hand in the opposite direction from The Dancing Dragon. "Y-you can't miss it. The Fox and Pheasant."

Borus narrowed his eyes, but turned and rushed out the door and began running towards the next Inn.

No time to lose.

* * *

"...Have you seen, by chance, two women... one perhaps 'sleeping' or 'sick,' the other possibly saying they were cousins? The one may or may not have been staying in your establishment since Sunday, perhaps earlier... They would have been in a great rush, coming in not too long ago..."

The innkeeper of The Fox and Pheasant stared blankly back at Borus. "Hmmm... not that I recall, sir, and I have been sitting here all day. You say that one may have been sick?" He shook his head. "It would have stuck with me, sir. They have not come by."

That settled it.

The stuttering. The glances. The fidgeting. The indecisive 'I don't know's...

She was there.

The Knight and Squire.

And he was hiding it.

He was far too lost in thought to thank the innkeeper as he turned on his heel and bolted back to The Knight and Squire.

No time to lose.

* * *

"They're HERE, and you know it, old man!" Borus yelled, fury and fire in his viens, as he pounded through the doorway. If he was too late... If this woman... _killed_ Chris... 

If he had been seconds faster, moments quicker...

If he had realized sooner...

If he had seen through an old man's charades...

If he had protected her from that arrow...

If he had stopped her from leaving...

If there were...

If he was...

If...

If he could never tell her...

"TELL me where they are! I know they're here! You don't understand the SEVERITY of this situation! Her DEATH would be on YOUR shoulders, old man!" The innkeeper didn't fail to notice the knight's hand stray dangerously close to the hilt of a finely-made dagger.

"Th-th-ther're-"

Borus loosened the dagger in its sheath.

"Th-they're here." The innkeeper blurted. He would rather face the wrath of his guest than the fury that burned in this man's eyes. "Room 17."

Borus stuck out his hand. "Keys." It was not a question, and the innkeeper meekly placed the requested item in the knight's palm. Borus nodded in form of thanks and swiftly disappeared up the stairs.

* * *

Anna knew it was inevitable. 

The knight would figure everything out sooner or later.

She had been counting on later.

Late enough that everything would be complete.

A seal in blood, and a rune in hand.

But she had been counting on later.

And as she heard the thunderous crash of the Inn's front door, she knew that her time was trickling quickly through her clenched fingers.

No time left to plan, to think, to arrange everything just so.

No time.

The captain could not be killed yet. It wasn't time, No Time, the rune's new bearer would not be guaranteed, the guarantee was vital, a fickle rune could flee, No Time, the Seal, the Dagger, the Rune, the Man, No Time, furious footfalls, closer, closer, closer, closer, No Time, water, blood, water, time, No Time, an unconscious woman, a chair, swimming to the surface, No Time.

_No escape._

A key in the lock.

No time.

Metallic ring of a dagger unsheathed.

No time.

The door crashed in on its hinges.

Time.

"Any sudden move, and you know EXACTLY what will happen." Anna had Chris' head pulled back, a dagger to her throat. Borus could only stare in horror. "Drop your weapons, sir."

Borus glared viciously, but dropped his sword with a hollow thunk on the wooden floor boards.

What other choice did he have?


End file.
